Chinese hail Edward Snowden as a hero

China's social media features praise for the NSA revelations as state media decries US double standards – while glossing over surveillance issues, and the Hong Kong connection

'Many [on Chinese social media sites such as Weibo] call Snowden a “hero” and “just what this world needs,” while urging the Chinese government to ensure his safety.' Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Monday 17 June 2013 09.10 EDT
First published on Monday 17 June 2013 09.10 EDT

After initially muted responses to the NSA spying controversy, the Chinese media and public are beginning to take stronger stances as it has emerged that Edward Snowden is taking refuge in Hong Kong, where he divulged classified data about US government-sponsored hacking activities directed toward China.

Editorials published by state newspapers argue, in a concerted voice, that the US owes China "an explanation of Prism" given its earlier high-profile accusation of Chinese government's hacking of US companies. "We can see … that when American politicians and businessmen make accusatory remarks, their eyes are firmly fixed on foreign countries and they turn a blind eye to their own misdeeds," read an editorial in People's Daily, the Communist party mouthpiece. "The information Snowden has revealed concerns China, and we need to understand our situation well," another editorial on Global Times, a popular nationalistic tabloid, maintained. "We have the right to ask the US government to issue explanations on, for example, whether Prism is being applied to the US's business negotiation with the Chinese government and corporations."

While the state media seizes the case as evidence of US double standards in its dealing with the world, it is also careful to steer the story away from aspects that may evoke domestic associations deemed too sensitive by the Chinese government. Snowden's choice of Hong Kong as his temporary haven, for example, was only glossed over, perhaps because it brings too quickly to mind the two epic US consulate runs committed last year, by the Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun, and of human rights advocate Cheng Guangcheng, both of which put the Chinese government in an embarrassing light domestically and internationally. It would also serve as yet another reminder to the mainland Chinese of the greater social freedom and judicial independence in Hong Kong, a depressing contrast to what they have at home.

Compared to its lambasting of NSA's spying on other countries, the Chinese media pours significantly less ink over the organisation's surveillance of American citizens. The practice of government secretly collecting mobile data of its citizens, after all, wouldn't sound too out of place in China, where the state keeps a watchful eye on practically all virtual activities conducted by the public, from text messages to social media. It has even played a role in the country's most shocking political scandal in recent memory, in which Bo Xilai, the charismatic contender of one of government's top posts, was felled partly for his wiretapping schemes directed at other high-ranking leaders.

Across social media, the platform most akin to a civil sphere in China, the discussion on the case is more animated, and seems to have confronted little censorship. There is some predictable umbrage at the US government's espionage attempt against China, as well as at the hypocrisy of the US internet companies that ostensibly emphasised privacy protection and information integrity. "It turns out that Google cannot accept being censored in China, but can tolerate being raped by America," Wu Fatian, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, wrote on Weibo, China's Twitter.

The majority of the commentators, however, seem to feel more impressed by Snowden's audacity and idealism than angered by his revelations. Many call him a "hero" and "just what this world needs", while urging the Chinese government to ensure his safety. Others draw from the controversy insights on American society, sometimes making implicit comparisons to their own.

"There is an argument one often sees in Chinese internet discussion, 'loving one's country is not the same as loving the government,'" tweeted Zhang Yiwu, a Chinese professor at Peking University, to his 5 million followers. "In America, it is marginalised individuals like Snowden who believe in it."

Bi Jing, a Chinese journalist based in Hong Kong, wrote: "[People like Snowden] stood up to the state apparatus as one individual. I salute them as well as the country they are challenging … Only such a country can create such heroes."

After trending briefly on Weibo on Friday, the story faded in public discussion over the weekend, as news such as a chemical factory explosion in north-eastern China and the defeat of Chinese soccer team by Thailand's national team grabbed people's attention. State media, however, while featuring prominently the developments of the Snowden episode, turned its attention to China's successful launch of a manned craft to its experimental space station and the divorce of Rupert Murdoch and Chinese wife Wendi Deng.